Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Chillin in the hospital room

After getting back to the room, we slept when we could. It was tough though with all the nurses and doctors constantly going back and forth. It will sure be nice to be home.

Doing my part with the burping after the feeding.

Here's our room by the way. Just big enough for a bed for Theresa. The cot I slept on was down at the side, but there wasn't much room. Anytime someone walked through to the other side, they risked hitting it. Ian slept in the plastic bassinet beside the bed.

Speaking of Ian sleeping, he does that a lot. And if he's not sleeping, he's feeding.

One thing I learned was that he very much disliked being unbundled and then touched with cold hands. I had to learn to rub my hands together to warm them up before picking him up.

Ian's umbilical cord is stained with a blue dye and this is the tattoo you get when hold him skin to skin. I might only have a few marks, but Theresa looks like she's got a polka dot top on.

Did you really think you'd get through this post without seeing one of these? And you didn't even have to clean it up.

How did we know Ian was hungry? When he made rooting noises and stuck his tongue out like this.

After 24 hours, it's time to go get another check-up. It's normal for babies to lose some weight after they're born. It's mostly water weight though since they're not really getting much milk yet. Ian was no exception and was down to 8 pounds 2 ounces, a five ounce difference since he was born 24 hours ago. No cause for worry though.

Along with that, there was a jaundice test where they took a color reading on his skin color. He showed up in the low risk category.

There was also a blood oxygenation test to see how good his lungs are oxygenating his blood and also to check his circulation. To do this they put a monitor on his hand and another on his foot. There is only supposed to be at most a different of 3% between each of the sensors, but he was squirming around and the readings were all over the place. His hand would read 99% and his foot would read in the 80s, then his foot would be in the high 90s and his hand would drop down. The nurse said we'd try this test again tomorrow when he's sleeping.

The last test he absolutely hated. It was the Neonatal Heel Prick test or the Guthrie test that checks for genetic issues. For this one, the prick his heel with a needle and "milk" it to create drops of blood. They use this blood to soak spots on a card that are then analyzed. He cried when the nurse did the heel prick and he really started wailing when they started squeezing his foot. Finally I got to hear him work his lungs since this is the first time he's really had a good cry. I put on a glove and tried to pacify him by sticking my finger in his mouth but he was having none of it. Out of the 6 spots on the card we needed to completely stain with blood, we only got through three of them and no amount of squeezing was getting enough blood for more. The nurse asked if she could stick him again and I said of course. Anything is better than trying to keep squeezing his foot and making him upset. The second stick worked better and we got blood quick. Whew. It was tough watching him be in pain like that though.

The next day around noon, Ian got circumcised. He was fine for the whole thing, but pretty much shut down for the rest of the afternoon. He slept right though his feeding and was miserable for his diaper changes for the next few days.

While Ian was off getting his circumcision, Theresa got a nice shower and was able to feel clean again.

"Why are you always taking pictures of me Dad?"

Theresa has progressed really really well from her c-section. Less than 2 days after her surgery she's up and about and walking the halls.
Our first outing together as a family. We took a lap around the halls, just taking it slow and testing Theresa's stitches.

On Wednesday night we went to get Ian weighed and get his blood oxygenation checked again. This time he's down to 7 pounds 12 ounces. Let's hope that starts turning around soon. He was a little more calm while getting his blood oxygenation checked too and his readings were great! 100% on his hand and 99% on his foot. Nice job buddy.

Next was a quick bath, and for this he started getting a little fussy. I think his circumcision is hurting him a bit. To console him, the nurse suggested putting on a glove and putting my finger in his mouth. I think this turned out to be a bad idea. After chewing on my finger, he started chewing on Theresa whenever she went to feed him.

That night, Ian was being extra fussy. He had a hard time calming down and just wouldn't stop crying no matter how we held him. We used some tips from "The Happiest Baby on the Block" DVD and that calmed him down. I sat on the bed and held him like this for an hour while he just slept. Poor sweet Ian.